Professional Statement

Dr Nicholas Chua was Consultant in the Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), Singapore where he served as Head of Acute Pain Service. Dr Nicholas Chua graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS) and obtained his Masters of Medicine (Anaesthesiology) in Singapore. He completed his advanced specialist training in Anaesthesiology in TTSH, Singapore. Pursuing his sub-specialty interest, he completed his Fellowship of Interventional Pain Physician (FIPP) accreditation in 2007 by the World Institute of Pain (WIP) in Memphis-Tennessee, United States of America. He is a certified Diplomate with the American Academy of Pain Management (DAAPM) and have also undergone training and certification in Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) for pain diagnostics in Bochum, Germany. He completed his PhD doctorate thesis with the Radboud University Medical Centre of Nijmegen, The Netherlands and his PhD book is titled “QST observations in Chronic Neck Pain:Towards a mechanism-orientated approach to Cervicogenic Headache”.

Dr Chua is an active reviewer for various journals including The Lancet, Neurosurgery, Neuromodulation, BJA, Pain Practice, Annals of Academy of Medicine-Singapore and The Open Pain Journal. He is currently the Associate Editor in the journal Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Spine & Neurosurgery and World Journal of Anesthesiology. Dr Chua is a member of several professional organizations including the Academy of Medicine, Singapore, World Institute of Pain (WIP), American Academy of Pain Management (AAPM) and the Singapore Society of Anaesthesiology. He serves as a committee member in the Pain Association of Singapore and is a member of the scientific committee of the 7th World Congress of Pain organised by the World Institute of Pain (WIP) to be held in Maastricht, The Netherlands in 2014.

Professional Statement

Dr Choo is an Anaesthesiologist who specializes in Pain Medicine. He graduated with MBBS from the National University of Singapore, and embarked upon Anaesthesiology specialist training. He was awarded Best Trainee award (Singapore) during his traineeship years. He obtained his Masters of Medicine in Anaesthesiology from NUS (Singapore). He also went on to become a Fellow with the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA), after completing his examinations in Melbourne.

He subsequently became a Fellow of the Faculty of Pain Medicine (ANZCA), and completed his fellowship training at the Western Australia Pain Management Centre of Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth, where he underwent training for interventional pain procedures and pain management for acute, chronic and cancer related pain syndromes.

His main interests lie in pain medicine and regional anaesthesia. He is trained in a variety of ultrasound and fluoroscopically guided interventional procedures including spinal steroid injections, radiofrequency neurotomies, neurolytic blocks, intrathecal pump insertion and spinal cord stimulation. These minimally invasive procedures provide patients another viable option for pain management apart from open surgery.

Dr Choo is currently serving as a Council Member of the Pain Association of Singapore. In addition, he has also been actively involved in postgraduate teaching in Singhealth and the Eastern Healthcare Alliance. He is also a senior clinical lecturer with Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. He has been awarded the Passionate Educator Award from Singhealth for teaching excellence. He has published a number of articles in peer reviewed journals, and presented on pain related topics in various international conferences.

Professional Statement

Dr Tan Tee Yong is an anaesthetist who is also a Pain Specialist. He does Pain Management and pioneered many interventional pain treatments when he was working in Alexandra Hospital. Dr Tan is one of the few medical doctors to be trained and fully registered as an Acupuncturist in Singapore. With this knowledge, he is able to integrate both Eastern and Western form of Pain Management for his patients.

Professional Statement

Dr Darren Phua is an Anaesthesiologist who is also trained in chronic and interventional pain medicine. He pursued his subspecialty interest in Pain Medicine at the University of Toronto, Canada and also qualified as a Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (World Institute of Pain, USA).

Dr Phua’s clinical expertise includes the administration of targeted, minimally invasive nerve blocks, radio-frequency therapy, neurolytic blocks and implant management. These procedures help patients to reduce pain and dependence on pain medications and avoid the risks and costs involved with major surgery.